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CREATION.
a denial of all foreign interference of a teleological type. Says Haeckel :
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"One group of philosophers affirms, in accordance with its teleological conception, that the whole cosmos is an orderly system in which every phenomenon has its aim and purpose; there is no such thing as chance. The other group, holding a mechanical theory, expresses itself thus: The development of the universe is a monistic mechanical process, in which we discover no aim or purpose whatever; what we call design in the organic world is a special result of biological agencies; neither in the evolution of heavenly bodies nor in that of the crust of our earth do we find any trace of a controlling purpose-all is the result of chance. Each party is right-according to its definition of chance. The general law of causality, taken in conjunction with the law of substance, teaches us that every phenomenon has a mechanical cause; in this sense there is no such thing as chance. Yet it is not only lawful, but necessary, to retain the term for the purpose of expressing the simultaneous occurrence of two phenomena, which are not causally related to each other, but of which each has its own mechanical cause, independent of that of the other."
In defending the position taken up by Haeckel in the "Riddle" from the attacks of theistic philosophers, Mr. Joseph McCabe describes the only sense in which science admits "chance" events, and clearly frames the issue between it and theism. According to him
"Haeckel and his colleagues hold that the direction which the evolutionary agencies take is not 'fortuitous'; that they never could take but the one direction which they have actually taken. A stone has not a dozen possible paths to travel by when you drop it from your hand. You do not seek any reason why it follows direction A instead of direction B or C. So it is, says the monist, with all the forces in the universe. The theist says the ultimate object must have been foreseen and the forces must have been guided, or they would never have worked steadily in this definite direction. The monist says that these forces no more needed guiding than a tramcar does; there was only one direction possible for them. Here is a clear issue, and in the present state of apologetics, an important one."
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